One Great Dish: Stuffed Quail Breast At Lula Café

By Melissa Wiley in Food on Nov 13, 2013 8:40PM

As the weeks creep closer toward Thanksgiving, we like to embrace other forms of poultry besides Ben Franklin’s pick for national bird, if only because tryptophan poisoning will come soon enough. As much as we like all things orange, round and sometimes warted, it’s nice to take a break from squash for a moment too. And it’s always nice to visit Lula Café, where we recently made an entrée out of the pumpernickel-stuffed quail breast appetizer, garnished with romano beans braised with dates, smoked yogurt and za’tar. The latter, for the record, is a blend of Middle Eastern herbs and spices—as well as something we had to Google—but these things only matter in print; in real life they just taste good.

For such a small feathered friend, quail makes for big-flavor eats. Two tiny thighs, however well salted, couldn’t satisfy us for long. But filled with a sufficient amount of pumpernickel and surrounded by sweet dates, the breast left us wondering why we’ve neglected this wee bird for so long. We also sampled other dishes including a squash risotto, but the flavors ensconcing the quail made this the easy standout of the evening and our new favorite fall dish.

Lula Café is located at 2537 N. Kedzie.